Religious Zionist MK Betzalel Smotrich blamed the LGBT Pride Parade in Tel Aviv for starting the recent outbreak of corona in Israel.
“Here, there was a huge ‘infection party’ that I think started this whole outbreak, this whole wave,” said Smotrich in a speech at the Knesset plenum on Wednesday. “No one has the courage to say this because it’s not politically correct, but the Pride Parade, the large frenzy there in Tel Aviv, was what started this outbreak.”
The right-wing MK listed a number of other factors he said helped spread the virus, including vacations abroad and Muslims who traveled during Eid al-Adha.
Smotrich complained that a lockdown would likely take place during the Jewish holidays in September.
“On the Jewish holidays, it’s not a big deal,” he said. “So we won’t pray in the synagogues. We won’t dance with the Torah on Simhat Torah. We’ll fast for a full day on Yom Kippur and pray outside under the blazing sun and we won’t celebrate with our families.”
According to Health Ministry data, the upward trend in corona cases had already begun in early to mid-June, before the Tel Aviv Pride Parade took place.
“If you forgot what the dangerous combination of ignorance, populism, frustration, and hatred looks like, Smotrich gave another great reminder yesterday,” Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz, who is gay, said on Thursday.
אם שכחתם איך נראה השילוב המסוכן של בורות, פופוליזם, תסכול ושנאה, סמוטריץ' נתן אתמול עוד תזכורת מצויינת.בניגוד לדבריו של המומחה למגפות מטעם עצמו, אין שום קשר בין התפרצות הדלתא למצעדי הגאווה. האיש שבנה קריירה על הופומוביה לא מפספס אף הזדמנות להסית ולהפיץ שנאה. בושה לכנסת ישראל. pic.twitter.com/RYVmKFBesD
— Nitzan Horowitz نيتسان هوروفيتس ניצן הורוביץ (@NitzanHorowitz) August 5, 2021
“Contrary to the statement by the self-proclaimed epidemiologist, there is no connection between the delta outbreak and the Pride parades. The man who built a career on homophobia never misses an opportunity to incite and spread hatred.”
Yesh Atid MK Yorai Lahav Hertzanu, another gay legislator, also responded to Smotrich’s statements, saying, “If that’s what you think, Betzalel, you’re invited to stay two meters away from me.”
Yamina MK Nir Orbach wrote on Twitter: “Israeli politics has fallen to the sidelines in the last two years. It has been taken over by elements who make much more noise in the media than their representation in public. This morning, we again got a reminder from the leader of the National Union, who is trying to garner votes and justify his political existence. Religious Zionism it certainly is not.
“I oppose the Pride Parade, but linking the corona outbreak to the parade is baseless stupidity, just like they tried to blame haredim in the past. Mutual guarantee is one of the commitments of the new administration, it will help us get out of the corona outbreak. Not secular people against haredim, and not Arabs against Jews. Together.”
A press release by the Religious Zionist Party referred to the clip of Smotrich as “fake news,” with Smotrich stating in response on Thursday that he mentioned the Pride Parades as just one cause of the outbreak.
“It is the mass gathering that spreads corona, the purpose of the gathering does not matter,” said Smotrich. “What does matter is the lack of courage and leadership by [Prime Minister Naftali] Bennett to make unpopular decisions and impose slight restrictions on gatherings, which will bring about a lockdown for all of us during the Tishrei holidays.”
While Smotrich did mention other causes for the outbreak, he singled out the Pride Parade as the “starter” of the outbreak. Smotrich also only singled out causes concerning Arabs, left-wing protests, and the LGBT community, ignoring large-scale events that took place in other sectors as infection rates spiked, such as the Flag March in Jerusalem or large gatherings in Jerusalem on Tisha Be’Av.
Smotrich has a long history of opposing the LGBT community and making LGBT-phobic statements. In 2006 he helped organize an event called the “beast parade,” in which goats and donkeys were paraded in Jerusalem in a protest against the LGBT+ pride parade in the city.
He has since expressed regret for taking part in the event, telling Haaretz: “I did it when I was young and I regret it.”
In an interview with Arutz Sheva at the time of the parade, Smotrich stated that the Pride Parade was “worse than the acts of animals.”
Despite the party’s strong opposition to LGBT rights, members of the Religious Zionist Party have stressed that they are not homophobic or promoting hate.
Orit Struck, No. 5 on the party’s list, told the Knesset Channel in March that she “never, ever had any negative sentiments toward private people for whom this (meaning being LGBT) is their situation.
Michal Waldiger, No. 2 on the Religious Zionist list, told Makor Rishon in February that she has “quite a few friends with children who are religious and LGBT. At the state level – what the public space will look like – it is more difficult. It is a difficult struggle that needs to be thought about.”
LGBT phobia spiked during the corona outbreak, with incidents reported once every three hours in 2020 in Israel, with 2,696 new incidents of hate and violence against the LGBT+ community reported, according to the Nir Katz Center of the Agudah – The Association for LGBT Equality in Israel.
Blaming LGBT+ people for causing or intensifying the corona outbreak, as well as other tragedies, has been a common trope among right-wing and haredi officials.
Last March, Rabbi Meir Mazuz, who promised that the virus would not affect Israel, blamed the corona outbreak on pride parades.
Mazuz is the dean of the Bnei Brak yeshiva and spiritual patron of Shas renegade Eli Yishai and his Yahad movement.
The rabbi claimed that all countries that have parades have been affected by the virus, but that Arab countries, which don’t have pride parades, do not have the virus. However, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and a number of other countries throughout the Middle East have been affected by the virus.
Haredi communities were also one of the communities hit hardest by the pandemic, as schools remained opened and corona regulations were loosely enforced as large gatherings continued in haredi cities and neighborhoods.
Mazuz has blamed a number of tragedies on pride parades, including the terrorist attack in which Eitam and Naama Henkin were killed in 2015.